Siler City, NC – For over 30 years, students have been creating and sharing science experiments and their results at the annual Chatham County Schools Science Fair. This year’s fair was held at Jordan-Matthews High School on Thursday, December 8. The science fair was one of the largest ever to feature students from every school and boasted 124 unique projects.
“This event allows students to take the skills and concepts they hear about in their science classrooms and apply them to real life situations. Instead of just reading out the scientists, they’re asking the questions and designing experiments to test their conclusions and analyzing the results” explained Dr. Charles Aiken, Executive Director for Middle Grades and Title III Instruction.
While the science fair is open to all students, only students in grades 3 through 12 are eligible to take their projects to the regional and state level competitions. Projects are evaluated for originality, scientific understanding, organization, and clarity of the presentation. This year, 22 judges helped review the projects and select winners.
Winning projects are selected for grade spans and an overall winning project is selected. Every participant receives a certificate, but grade span winners are awarded a plaque. The overall winner receives $100. This year’s overall winner was Rachel Ponder from Northwood High School with the project “Effect of Varroa Destructors on Honey Bee Population Growth.”
The complete list of grade span winners:
K-12 General Science Division
Ms. Canipe’s Class – Siler City Elementary
Loop the Loop
K-2 Class Division
Ms. Andrew’s Class – Siler City Elementary
Soak It All Up
K-2 Individual Project Division
Mrs. Morgan’s Class – Silk Hope
Heat Up & Eat Up
Division 3 – 5 Team Category
Noah Tiller, Ellie Poitras, and Laila Pollack – Perry Harrison Elementary
Clean-O-Cup
Division 3 – 5 Individual Category
Alessia Iacono – North Chatham Elementary
Multi-Tasking vs. Single Tasking
Division 6 – 8 Biological Science A
Cammie Zehner – Margaret B. Pollard Middle
Moldbuster II: Honey vs. Mold
Division 6 – 8 Biological Science B
Tristan Jones and Ava Jones – Horton Middle
To Cry or Not to Cry? Is it Even a Question?
Division 6 – 8 Chemistry
Reagan Phillips, Braden Phillips and Chase Parker – J.S. Waters
Moo Plastic
Division 6 – 8 Earth/Environmental Science
Calvin Conroy, Cabot Priddle and Axel Zarate – Chatham Middle
Fantastic Fertilizers
Division 6 – 8 Physics & Mathematics
MacKenzie Keesor – Margaret B. Pollard Middle
All About the Bass
Division 6 – 8 Engineering
Colby Williamson – Bennett
The Bending Effect
Division 9 – 12 Biological Science A
Rachel Ponder – Northwood High
Effect of Varroa Destructors on Honey Bee Population Growth
Division 9 – 12 Biological Science B
Jaycee Sansom, Nathan Carson, and Bjorn Lee – Chatham School of Science & Engineering
Where is Waldo?
Division 9 – 12 Chemistry
Karmen Brown – Jordan-Matthews High
Effect of Concentration on Conductivity
Division 9 – 12 Earth/Environmental Science
Grace Miller – Northwood High
Sunlight vs. Brightest Color
Division 9 – 12 Physics & Mathematics
Daisy Martinez – Jordan-Matthews High
Concentration vs. Brightness
Division 9 – 12 Technology
Kevin Saefong – Jordan-Matthews High
Does Music Impact Your Reaction Time?
Division 9 – 12 Engineering
John Thurman – Chatham Central High
Be Steel and Brace Yourself
Overall Winner 2016-17
Rachel Ponder – Northwood High
Effect of Varroa Destructors on Honey Bee Population Growth